Weekly Update: 11/13/2022

There has been a lot of concern recently concerning Marina Redevelopment and the master sums up my feelings about the situation. Plus, listening to a great song always helps calms me down when I’m upset about things like this. 🙂

If, like me, you are not happy with things, below you will find:

• Policy Solutions (the things the City can do to move things in a better direction) and then
• Your Action Items: the things you can and should do to make that happen.

Two Issues

But before we get to that, to answer one very popular question, according to the City Communications Director, the new bathroom will not need to be moved. (Even though the September 27, 2022 Skylab Presentation clearly shows that happening.)

But for me that raises two issues…

1. The presentations we’ve had so far are so confusing and filled with conflicting ‘stuff’ that you cannot tell what’s what.
   • Sep 27: Marina Redevelopment Community Meeting
   • Nov. 9: Mayor’s Speech to Des Moines Marina Association Annual Meeting
2. Why on earth are we building this, literally, “One piece at a time.”?

Say you find your little bit of heaven—your DREAM property? Who builds the bathroom first and -then- starts building the other rooms? No one does that. Instead, you’d get the architect to come up with your complete DREAM DESIGN to go with your–dream property. You’d get the entire thing together -before- you started building. Johnny’s song is no joke. You build any big project one piece at a time and you get what you deserve.

SOLUTIONS

The solutions are really, really simple. They’ so simple, I fear you won’t believe me.

Just get twenty people to go to City Council and demand this: “Stop all landside development until the City does three things.”

1. 1. Immediately implement the Marina Town Hall we already voted for in 2021 https://jcharrisfordesmoines.com/marina-town-hall-arpa-proposal/
   2. Reinstate the Public Planning Commission we had until 2013 to give residents a seat at the table on all land use.
   3. Reinstate the Marina Committee we had for decades when the Marina was first built.

All of these can be done now and implemented in January with no impact on the docks or the hoist projects. But we need this approach to create a Marina footprint that truly serves the interests of the public.

Why?

Each of the above has a very specific purpose. At bottom, this is all about zoning. And zoning has veeeerrrrry specific laws. You can’t go to the City and say “Don’t block my view!” or “Don’t build a hotel!” or “Build a hotel here, but not there!” Or, “I like everything except…” That’s really not how zoning works, and besides those are band-aids, not really solutions.

You’re not asking why we would want a hotel. Or if we even need a hotel. You’re not considering that a developer may not want to build in a particular spot or what impacts it might have on the entire area. Zoning is supposed to be the process that allows the entire community to answer those questions and plan for the future.

The fact that we’re the only city in the area without a public planning commission should tell you something about all our land use decisions.

The solution is to get back to having a fair process and let that get you where you want to go. That’s what those solutions will do. You can’t cut corners and expect things to work out right on such a long term project. Electeds come and go. City officials come and go. You need to ‘get it in writing’.

• The Virtual Town Hall is a first step. It’s the method we should use for every important land use decision in the future. It lets everyone visualise the project in advance. And the really good news? We already budgeted for it over a year ago, so there’s nothing holding us back from doing it today.
• A Planning Commission (PC), which every other city has, is the place where members of the public get to have input on the actual design of the City. The PC would organise the town halls, gather input from the public, advise the Council on what you want. And it would do it not just for the Marina, but for every planning decision. No. More. Surprises.
• A Marina Committee, like our other Council Committees, brings everyone concerned about the Marina to the same table. The Marina is now the essential public square for the entire city. No more preferential treatment for any single constituency. No more ‘in-private’. No more uncertainty as to when or where you can engage with the City and the Council on issues of concern. A Marina Committee creates a single public place where all stakeholders can go, every month, to plan for Marina-specific issues.

Action Items

There are three more City Council Meetings in 2022. They are all on a Thursday, at 6PM, at City Hall. 21630 11th Avenue S, Suite A Des Moines, WA 98198

November 17, December 1 and December 8.

I urge you to read the above, attend all of these and give public comment in support each of these ideas. If we get started now, we can have a better process started IN JANUARY, with no delay to -anything-. But you must start SHOWING UP and you must ask for these specific things…

1. Stop all landside development until we…
2. Immediately implement the Marina Town Hall we already voted for in 2021 https://jcharrisfordesmoines.com/marina-town-hall-arpa-proposal/
3. Reinstate the Public Planning Commission we had until 2013 to give residents a seat at the table on all land use.
4. Reinstate the Marina Committee we had for decades when the Marina was first built.

And of course, you could do worse than to subscribe to my Weekly Updates.

As always, call/write with questions, comments.

—JC
(206) 878-0578